Electrical connector for strip cable



l. E. ROBB ETAL ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR FOR STRIP CABLE Filed Sept. 29, 1958 42 4/ L\\ 1 J 57 I25 45 III [1/] I I 1/] I: I z: r:

L. x E w W 5 a @m 1 w T. fig w w R fly J Nov. 20, 1962 Unite rates Patent Q 3,065,446 ELECTRICAL CONNETOR FOR STRIP CABLE Ian E. Robb, Pasadena, and Robert J. Langzettel, Highland Park, Califi, assignors to Cannon Electric Company, Los Angeles, Calit., a corporation of California Filed Sept. 29, 1958, Ser. No. 763,999 8 Claims. (Cl. 339-184) This invention relates to electrical connectors and more particularly to electrical connectors for interconnecting strip cables.

A strip cable is a sheet of insulation material having a plurality of parallel spaced apart conductors. The conductors may be etched or printed on a surface of the sheet or may be entirely embedded wtihin the sheet.

It is a general object of this invention to provide an electrical connector for interconnecting the ends of two sections of a strip cable to complete a multiplicity of independent circuits which connector is simple and eificient in construction, is sturdy and rugged in character, is adapted for easy reception of the strip cables, and is reliable in service. Another object of this invention, is to provide a connector member adapted to be secured on one end of a strip cable for connecting the several conductors of the strip cable to separated conductors for making a multiplicity of individual circuits.

A further object of this invention is to provide an electrical connector of the above mentioned character in which the interconnected sections of strip cable are restrained against unintended disengagement thereof, and in which the conductors of the strip sections are maintained under stress in contact to prevent relative vibration between the interengaged conductors.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will appear during the course of the following part of this specification wherein the details of construction and mode of operation of a preferred embodiment are described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an electrical connector of this invention showing the plug and receptacle members thereof separated, and with parts being cut away to show certain details of construction;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal section through the connector taken on line 2--2 of FIG. 1, and showing the plug and receptacle joined;

FIG. 3 is a transverse section taken on line 33 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged detail section taken on line 44 of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawing in greater detail, an electrical connector of this invention is shown as comprising a male or plug connector member and a female or receptacle connector member 11, the members serving to interengage the end portions of two strip cables 12 and 13.

The female connector member 11 comprises a body 16 having a panel or bottom wall 17, two side walls 18 and 19, a front wall 20 defining a front end face 21 of the connector member, and a rear wall 22 having an inside face 23 and an outside or rear end face 24. Said walls define anopen cavity 25 in the body. The body is preferably formed of insulation material, e.g. hard plastics, and the walls thereof may be molded separately and then made integral with each other, or the body may be molded as a unit. The rear and side walls extend up from the bottom wall to a common plane or top surface 26.- The front wall has a top surface 27 which may be of a height above the bottom or outside surface of the bottom wall about one half that of the top surface 26 of the rear and side walls.

The inside surface of the front wall is designated by reference numeral 29 and it has a groove 30 formed therein extending throughout the length of the front wall and adjacent the inside surface of the bottom wall thereby to provide an overhanging lip 31.

A resilient member 35 is mounted in the cavity of the body. In the illustrated embodiment the member 35 is formed from a sheet of resilient material and has a front end edge 36 disposed in the front groove 30 under lip 31, a rear end edge 37 in abutment against the rear wall, and side edges 38 disposed adjacent respective inside surfaces of the body side walls.

The resilient member 35 has a curved upper surface, the outline of which is convex with respect to the bottom wall when viewed as in FIG. 3 in section along a line perpendicular to the front and rear end faces of the body. The apex or uppermost extent of said curved outline is designated by numeral 41 and it extends along a line transversely of the body and substantially parallel to the plane of the bottom wall, there being a forward curved portion 42 of said outline curving downwardly from the apex and a rearward curved portion 43 of the outline curving downwardly from the apex. In the illustrated embodiment the curved outline of the resilient member is a tractrix curve in which the slope of the rearward curved portion is less than that of the forward curved portion.

The resilient member 35 may be formed of metal, but is preferably formed of a resilient plastic, e.g. nylon. The resilient member may be formed from other than sheet material, that is, it may be constituted of elastomer and extend upwardly from the bottom Wall. When secured to the bottom wall, the resilient member need not be fitted into the grooves 30, it being an important feature of the resilient member of this invention that it provide a bulge in the strip cable as will be explained hereinafter.

The rear wall has a slit 46 extending therethrough and longitudinally thereof and being disposed in a plane be low the plane of the top surface of the front wall. Slit 46 serves to receive the strip cable 13.

Referring now to the structural details of the strip cable sections 12 and 13, each has parallel side edges 48, a transverse end edge 49, and top and bottom surfaces 50 and 51, respectively. The strip cables shown in the illustrated embodiment are of a type which is procurable commercially. They have a plurality of parallel and uniformly spaced apart strip conductors 52 embedded therein and extending longitudinally thereof. The mass or body of the cables in which the conductors are embedded is constituted of transparent and flexible plastics.

To secure the cable 13 in the receptacle 11, front end edge 36 of the resilient member is lifted out from under lip 31, the end portion of the cable is inserted through the slit 46, the end marginal portion of the cable con tiguous its end edge 49 is folded under the front end edge 36 of the resilient member, and then the front end edge of the resilient member with the strip cable wrapped over it is reinserted into the groove 30 thereby to secure the cable in the connector body.

There are two bores 54 formed in the rear wall for receiving screws 55. The distance between the near inside walls of the two bores is slightly less than the width of the strip cable whereby as the screws are passed into the bores they will engage and cut through the side margins of the cable thereby to grip the cable and secure it in the slit. The screws are shown as being screwthreaded in the bottom wall as for securing the rear wall end marginal portion and the front edge of the resilient member into the groove 30, then bringing the strip cable 3 flat over the apex of the resilient member and down upon the bottom wall, and then attaching the rear wall upon the bottom wall and securing the cable in the slit by inserting the screws 55.

The plug connector member 10 is substantially identical in construction to the receptacle connector member 11 except that the plug member is not as wide as the receptacle member, i.e. the dimension between the outside surfaces of side walls 58 and 59 of the plug is less than that between the outside surfaces of the side walls 18 and 19 of the receptacle. Also, the side walls of the plug extend only as high as front wall 20 of the plug. Such difierence in structure between the plug and the receptacle is for the purpose of making the plug slida-ble longitudinally into the receptacle between side walls 18 and 19.

The insides of the side Walls of the receptacle have longitudinally extending grooves 61 formed therein which define upwardly facing shoulders 62 disposed in the plane of the top surface of front wall 20, and which further define inwardly extending flanges or lips 63 opposite each shoulder 62. The plug is rabbeted along its edges at 64 to accommodate the lips 63. Thus, the plug slides into the receptacle with the top surface 27 of its front and side walls flush upon top surface 27 of the front wall of the receptacle and upon shoulder 62. Inward movement of the plug into the receptacle is continued until the front end faces 21 and 21' of the receptacle and plug, respec- .tively, abut against inside faces 23 and 23 of the rear Walls of the plug and receptacle respectively, to the interengaged position shown in FIG. 2.

In the above description of the resilientmember 35 the apex 41 thereof is stated as extending transversely of the body. The thickness of the strip cable is taken into account when determining the minimum height of the apex 41. The connectors of this invention provide for interengagement of conductors '52 of cable 12 of the plug member with respective conductors 52 of cable 13 f the receptacle member. Such interengagement of conductors is provided by making the resilient members of sufiicient height that the conductors of one cable will be pressed tightly against the conductors of the other cable when the plug and receptacle members are interengaged.

Inasmuch as the strip cables of the illustrated embodiment are of the type having its conductors embedded entirely within the cable, it is necessary to expose the conductors as by stripping off one surface of the insulation body of each cable as shown at 66. It will be noted that the location of the stripped off portion 66 is at the apex of the resilient member and extends along the rearward curved portion 43 of the resilient. member. The resilient member is thus made to a height at its apex that the exposed surfaces of the conductors in the strip cables will be disposed above the plane of the top surface 27 and shoulders 62.

Inasmuch as the apexes of the resilient members are disposed nearer to the front wall of their-respective bodies than to the rear wall, the bulge in the strip cable of the plug will ride over the bulge in the strip cable. of the receptacle, each depressing the other as the plug is slid into the receptacle. Interengagement of the end walls of the plug and receptacle occurs before the bulges in the strip cables may become spaced apart. Thus, one strip cable is pressed against the other in the rearward slopes of their curves or bulges to hold the strip cables in firm contact with each other. With the resilient members under stress, unintentional removal of the plug from the receptacle is made unlikely.

For concentrating the forces and stresses of the resilient members along the areas at which the conductors of the plug are maintained in contact with the conductors of the receptacle, the resilient members 35 have a plurality of parallel ribs or ridges 68 formed integral therewith, and these are spaced apart from each other and arranged so that each conductor strip will have a rib 68 immediately under it.

While the instant invention has been shown and described herein, in what is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the invention, which is therefore not to be limited to the details disclosed herein, but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims.

What we claim is:

l. A multi-contact electrical connector comprising a receptacle member and a plug member, each of said members having a body with front and rear portions, the front portions of the bodies being operatively interengageable to close a plurality of electrical circuits, each body having an end portion of a strip cable section secured therein, each strip cable section having a plurality of exposed conductors, a member of resilient material in each body for pressing the exposed conductors of one strip cable section against the respective exposed conductors of the other strip cable section, said resilient member of each body having a convex outside surface forming a bulge in its respective strip cable section, said convex outside surface of each resilient member comprising a forwardly facing inclined forward portion and a rearwardly facing inclined rear portion, said inclined forward and rear portions meeting at a transverse apex, the apexes of the respective said resilient members being in opposed, longitudinally spaced relation to each other in the interengaged positions of the receptacle and plug members with the said exposed. conductors of the respective strip cable sections pressed together between corresponding inclined surface portions of the respective said resilient members, and. a plurality of parallel ridges on each of said resilient members directly under the respective conductors of the respective strip cable, whereby the forces compressing the exposed conductors of one strip cable section against the exposed conductors respectively of the other strip cable section will be concentrated in the region of therespective conductors,

2,. An electrical connector, comprising: a pair of complementary bodies having interengaging; means thereon for slidably guiding saidbodies into mutually overlapping contiguous relation; each body having an; outwardly convex conductor support-mounted onits inner face generally opposite the corresponding support on the inner face of the other body, at least one of said conductor supports being formed of resilient material; a generally flat conductor mounted on each body extending over the convex surface of therespective support and: terminating in a bight around the forward edge thereof, said forward edge of the respective support'members serving to hold the respective conductor end portions in rearwardly facing grooves formed: adjacent the forward ends of the respective bodies.

3. A multi-contact electrical connector comprising a pair of complementary contact assemblies adapted to mechanically and electrically interengage, each of said assemblies comprising a body of insulating materiaLone of said bodies having a groove and the other of said bodies being formed with a tongue, the tongue beingslidable into the groove with a close fit for mutual engagement and predetermined alignment of the bodies, the bodies each having its forward end edge in one general'plane and an abutment in another generalplane, the end edge of one body andthe abutment ofthe other body being adapted to meet when one body is inverted relative to the other for limiting the mutual advance of the bodiesto position them in connecting relationship, each of said bodiesproviding electrical contact terminal mountingsfor complementary stripcables, each, cable comprising a generally flat ribbon of flexible insulating material, generally flat electrical conductor stripsembedded in spaced apart relationship enfin y w th ,the hb nqtia l fies matel'i i h nd tor strips in the two cables being equal in number and aligned, each body having a slot open at both ends extending from rear toward front and being of a width and depth to receive and laterally position one of said strip cables, each body also including a base extending forwardly from the forward end of the slot and terminating near the forward end edge in a transverse retaining notch, a transverse shoulder at the rear end of said base, a transversely elongated resilient cable support member lodged on said base between said shoulder and said notch, said support member having an upper surface rounded in a longitudinal direction, the crowns each having a height rising beyond the median horizontal plane of the engaged bodies, each terminal end section of the cable resting upon and conforming to one of said upper surfaces and the extreme end portion of the cables disposed in a bight around the forward edge of the support member and seating tightly in the notch, the insulating material of the cable overlying the support member being stripped off throughout its entire width across the upper surface of the cable to expose the upper surface of the conductors, whereby when the two contact assemblies are mutually advanced to their limit of engagement, the crowns bearing the exposed conductors are forced past one another and aligned exposed conductors are resiliently pressed together in physical and electrical contact and are frictionally retained in such connecting relationship by the confining co-action of tongue and groove.

4. A multi-contact strip cable electrical connector wherein the electrical connections are effected by direct physical contact between the conductors of a pair of strip cable members and comprising a pair of complementary relatively rigid mateable housings each having a forward portion and a rearward portion and each embodying a terminal support section, the housings being slidable on a longitudinal axis into an engaged relation wherein the housings are in mutually overlapped position with their terminal support sections facing each other, a strip cable support member on each terminal support section extending from its respective support section toward the support section of the other housing of a transverse dimension sufficient to support a strip cable having a plurality of ribbon-type conductors, at least one of said support members being resilient, and a strip cable section secured in each housing, each strip cable section comprising a wide, flat sheet of insulating material having a plurality of fiat, parallel conductor ribbons, each strip cable section being secured over said support member in general conformity to the longitudinal contour thereof and with its conductor ribbons exposed on the outside, and with the conductor ribbons of one support in substantially transverse registry with the conductor ribbons of the mating support, the crown of the surface of the strip cable section overlying one of the support members projecting into the longitudinal path of the crown of the strip cable section overlying the other support member when the housings are longitudinally slidably moved toward the engaged relation whereby in the engaged relation the contiguous surfaces of the exposed conductor ribbons overlying the opposed support members are frictionally and electrically engaged.

5. A multi-contact strip cable electrical connector as defined in claim 4, wherein both of said strip cable support members are resilient.

6. A multi-contact strip cable electrical connector as defined in claim 4, wherein the resilient strip cable support member comprises a bowed spring element.

7, A multi-contact strip cable electrical connector as defined in claim 4, wherein the resilient strip cable support member is formed of resilient insulation material.

8. A multi-contact strip cable electrical connector as defined in claim 4, wherein each support member has a rearwardly facing inclined rear portion and the said crowns of the strip cable move past each other when the housings are moved toward the engaged relation, said conductor ribbons being compressed together between said rearwardly facing inclined rear portions of said support members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 279,557 Flint June 19, 1883 2,284,462 Williams May 26, 1942 2,290,816 Schaucr July 21, 1942 2,480,142 Lager Aug. 30, 1949 2,748,321 Kamm May 29, 1956 2,749,526 Petersen June 5, 1956 2,838,739 Winkler June 10, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 504,950 Belgium June 30, 1952 8,743 Great Britain of 1892 700,490 Great Britain Dec. 2, 1953 

